Fonterra 'Red-listing' Undermines New Zealand

Fonterra is letting New Zealand down because of its red listing in Australia's new Kids True Food Guide, launched on Wednesday.

The latest consumer guide to avoiding GE ingredients has a red mark against our flagship dairy brand, undermining New Zealand's reputation for clean, green, safe and GE-free produce.

Fonterra are on record as not using rGBH (GE bovine growth hormone), but are understood to allow the use of GE cattle-feed imported as grain from overseas, despite international promotion of New Zealand products as grass-fed.

"It is unclear what other GE ingredients Fonterra may be using, but whatever it is, they must stop," says Jon Carapiet from GE Free NZ (in food and environment).

Scientific studies have shown that animals fed GE grain can have organ damage and reduced fertility. The use of rBGH in the USA has been highly contentious because of increases in hormones linked to cancer in humans. The integrity of New Zealand dairy production is also threatened by plans to release GE Alfalfa in the US which could lead to a spread of GE contamination into feed used in New Zealand.

US consumers have joined Australian and New Zealand consumers in demanding all GE ingredients be labelled, so that people can choose to avoid them. A report this week shows 96% of American consumers support GE labelling. 

But in the absence of mandatory testing, labelling and public-health monitoring of GE ingredients,The True Food Guide and similar guides available around the world are vital for consumers to identify brands they can trust.

Fonterra is in a position where what it does can damage New Zealand's reputation but is not alone in being red-listed.The iconic spread Vegemite has also been listed in the red. Vegemite is made by US manufacturer Kraft, who faced a boycott of Vegemite in 2007 and announced it contained no GE organisms.But Kraft has refused to say if it uses GE grain or other GE organisms in the manufacturing process, casting a shadow over the iconic brand.

Kraft recently became owners of Cadbury which is also red-listed in the True Food Guide, adding to the damage already caused to Cadbury by its use of palm-oil linked to deforestation.

"Fonterra must get its act together fast and ensure it provides GE-free products," says Jon Carapiet.

"It is unacceptable for our leading exporter to be trading on our national reputation whilst pulling the wool over the eyes of consumers who do not want a bar of GE in the food chain."